


Alike

by espioc



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 07:36:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10552550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/espioc/pseuds/espioc
Summary: Starscream retreats to a rooftop after another one of Megatron's routine 'punishments'As does another.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I spent a lot of time debating on whether to post this or not. It was a small idea at two in the morning. Not my best work, but certainly not my worst. Please enjoy.

Starscream had messed up. He wasn’t sure entirely what he did. In fact, he may have done nothing. But Megatron was certainly angry, and the only punching bag around who might be able to get back up in the end was Starscream. So the anger was taken out there. In all likelihood it was Megatron who messed up. Or Starscream. Who could really tell?

Maybe Megatron found out about Starscream’s latest bit of scheming, or he heard rumors of someone else’s scheming, and saw fit to make an example of someone. Generally the example was the schemer, shot through the chest and torn apart. If Megatron didn’t know who it was however, and sometimes, even if he did, he decided Starscream was the next best target.  

No matter the circumstances Starscream now found himself sitting atop the roof of what looked like an abandoned building. His frame harbored new dents, brought by less than new action. Megatron raged, Starscream got the blunt of it, it was nothing new to him. 

He stared up at the stars, missing Cybertron. Anger boiled inside of him, but he wasn’t ready to release it just yet. There were no battles to be fought, and he had no interest, at the moment anyways, in destroying anything where humans resided. It would draw too much attention, and he didn’t feel like being fired at, nor did he feel like starting a fight with any nearby Autobots.

So, there he sat. Sore, sour and alone. 

Or so he thought.

A small gasp, that’s what he heard. 

Starscream turned his head. He found a human, standing frozen in the doorway to the roof. 

With something of a sneer Starscream directed his attention back to the stars. He didn’t care about the little human. What was one human? It wasn’t as though their presence on the planet was entirely a secret, despite their tendency to try and avoid drawing attention from the natives.

So Starscream ignored the human. 

Even when she started talking. 

“You’re one of those robot guys!” she said, pointing at the large body before her. The young woman growled, “You destroyed my city!” she raged, picking up a piece of metal and running towards the mechanical being, “It’s because of you we have to live in that crappy boarding house!” she hit Starscream with the bar. 

Starscream flicked the little human away, barely putting a bit of effort into it. The girl went flying, landing not too far away. It took a moment for her to stand up, but she did eventually get to her feet. 

Starscream assumed a smart human would have left by now. This one was, apparently, not very smart. She stood up and approached the seeker again, this time with much less malice. She put her hands on his hips, “Aren’t you going to kill me?” she asked, as if the robot had given her a disappointing performance.

Starscream looked down at the human, slight confusion bending his expression. He assumed the humans ran through life with the same self-preservation protocols that almost every other species harbored. Maybe this human was defective. It almost seemed as though She wanted Starscream to kill her.

“That’s what you guys do, right?” she asked, “You run around, step on people, shoot up cities! That’s what you do right!? So come on! Do it already!” The young girl kicked the much larger being.

This time Starscream just ignored her. 

The human let out an annoyed, “Ugh,” slumping slightly after throwing her arms in the air, “Useless,” she mumbled, then making his way to the edge and sitting herself down beside Starscream. 

“You guys kill hundreds of us, and the one time someone actually  _ wants  _ you to, you don’t even lift a finger! What’s a guy gotta do around here!” 

Starscream would have flown away. He didn’t like listening to some miniscule being complain about not being dead. Who would want to be dead? What kind of creature would actively seek death?

Starscream thought about it for a moment. It only took half a moment for him to recognize the feeling. He let out a small, “hm,” which drew the human’s attention. 

"What?” she asked, “Am I funny to you?”

Starscream sneered. He had no interest in striking up a conversation with this human, “You humans,” he mumbled. 

The human sneered right back. She made an annoyed ‘tsk’ sound, before looking forward, “I wouldn’t expect a big guy like you to understand. Nobody’d knock you around.” the last part was mumbled.    
  
Starscream turned his attention back to the sky once more. He was debating on whether or not to say anything. 

“You humans,” she grumbled, “You really like to complain, don’t you?”

The human scowled, “Like I said, I wouldn’t expect someone as big as you to understand. I came up here to get out my anger  _ alone,  _ thank you very much. I didn’t expect to find a giant beast machine sitting here and silently judge me,” she crossed her arms, “That’s the last thing I need right now.”

Starscream looked down at her again, “Then go somewhere else. I was here first.”

“You go somewhere else!” she snapped, “You’ve got wings, just fly away. Go destroy another city like you always do!”

Starscream scowled, “If you didn’t want your city destroyed then maybe you should have built them better.” 

“I’m sorry if our towns and homes were built to withstand natural disasters from  _ earth,  _ not some alien invasion straight outta some comic book!”

Starscream’s face twisted with some confusion, “Some- what?” he grumbled to himself, growing tired of this humans incessant chattering, but suddenly finding himself unable to leave the conversation.

“Yeah,” the human started, “You know, a comic book. Little thing, filled with pictures. You read it- and look at it. They’re popular here on earth,” she mumbled. “If you’re going to destroy an entire race at least have the courtesy to know a little something about it first.” 

For a short moment Starscream studied the human. She appeared to be a juvenile. She had wrapped herself in a dark jacket to combat the cold that hardly touched Starscream. The girl’s eyes lacked life, and her clothes were torn and tattered. She was thin, thinner than many of the humans Starscream had observed during his time on earth. Her face wore a torn lip and remnants of a bloody nose. One of her cheeks swelled slightly, and was beginning to show some discoloration. She looked angry. Her eyes, however, told a different story. 

Starscream stared forward again, “Why?” he asked, in reference to her comment, “We’re just going to destroy it all anyways- Like we always do.”

Starscream was selfish, sure. He could be conniving, and villainous. But he had never signed on to conquer other worlds with Megatron. He wanted Cybertron. Destroying the worlds of these fleshy creatures was just a waste of time. Though, he supposed they’d been left with nothing else to do, since Megatron’s precious war had laid waste to the same planet they’d been fighting so hard over.

This was all that was left of Megatron’s war. 

“Why don’t you go fight on your own planet,” the girl scoffed, drawing Starscream from his thoughts.

“We did that already,” Starscream mumbled, hardly paying attention to the words leaving his mouth.

“Well, then why don’t you choose some other sorry species to over run?”

“You little flesh things really do like to complain don’t you?”

The human shot to her feet, “I’m sorry, all high and mighty, if I’m not too keen on having my entire planet and species destroyed!” a second later she sat herself back down. She took hold of her knees in an attempt to keep warm, “Though I guess, the more I think about it, it wouldn’t be that bad.”

“You did complain about me not killing you a moment ago, so I’m surprised you’re so quick to defend this planet.” Starscream commented. 

“Yeah, well-” she wanted to say something, but she had nothing to say really. Nothing she thought a giant alien robot would understand, “When you spend most of your time locked up hoping everyone will leave you alone- you get to hoping.”

“If you’re ‘locked up’ then how are you able to come outside?”

“Not like-” she lifted her head off her knees, still searching for words, “Not like prison locked up. I lock myself up. In my room. I sit on my computer all day. I hope you know what that is because I don’t feel like explaining it to you.”

“I know what a computer is.” Starscream said bluntly, “But I don’t see what good locking yourself away is going to do. I did that once. It did nothing for me.”

The human made a ‘pft’ sound, loosening up slightly, “I’m not even going to try sympathising with a robot. That’s just about the only way I stay out of harm's way,” she put a light hand on her cheek, her eyes suddenly falling, “Doesn’t always work, though.” she mumbled to herself. 

“I’d think you’d be safer inside your house,” Starscream commented, “Less- giant robots.” he smirked at his comment. 

The girl scoffed, “It’s a lot safer up here with you, apparently, than it is down there with him. It’s a lot safer being alone, really.”

She stared over the edge of the building. She was so close. Something in her body was prompting her to jump, but she resisted the urge. Another part, a small part. The smallest part. Told her to just sit there. Just sit there with the giant robot and stay. Stay until the old man slapped her lights out, or the robot shot her. Whichever came first. 

“You humans are so fragile,” Starscream mumbled, looking at her again. 

Again the girl scowled, “I’m sorry we can’t all be made of metal like you. When we get hit we bruise.” she took a moment to study the larger being. He was a lot to look at. His thick armor was rough with war. He was riddled with dents, chips, and scratches. His eyes glowed as if containing life, but she could see the lack of it. They were angry, and they were tired. 

The girl twisted her lips, “Where’d you get the dents?” she asked, pointing to his chest. 

Starscream looked down at himself. He considered answering, but didn’t really want to. He wondered why he’d stayed in the conversation this long. He could have gotten up and flown away a long time ago. And yet, he’d stayed. So he answered, “My master was...less than pleased.” he concluded, leaving it at that. 

“You have a master?” the girl asked, loosening up even more.

“We all have to follow somebody.”

“And- he did all that?” she seemed confused, “Well, what did you do? Did you fight back?”

“No,” Starscream answered bluntly, “There’s no point in it. He is, and always will be, physically stronger than me.” 

“Does...he do that a lot?” the girl asked hesitantly.

Starscream didn’t answer for a moment, “More than I care to admit,” he grumbled. 

The girl was silent for a moment, “And you keep going back? Why?” she stood up, “If this guy keeps beating on you, then why do you keep going back to him? You’re some big, giant, powerful robot who can roam about the cosmos no problem, why stay by his side?”

“You, human, do not understand my species as well as you might think,” was all Starscream said in response. He looked to her again, ‘Why do you continue to return to the human who does that to you?” he pointed to her face. 

She seemed taken aback. She took a long moment to think. She supposed the streets might have been worse. Recently, though, they’d looked just a bit more inviting. 

“I don’t know,” she mumbled, not really wanting to giant robot to hear her. 

Starscream stood up and began to walk to the center of the roof where he would be taking off. He had grown tired of the conversation, but continued to speak, “I would suggest,” he started, “Figuring it out. I certainly have.” he turned back to the young human, now staring up at him not far from where she once sat. 

Starscream turned to face her, “You said you wanted to die?” he asked, then letting out a scoff, “It seems so inviting doesn’t it? You humans need to learn that when someone strikes you down you get back up. You will know what victory is when you lift yourself from the slump you’ve been living in, and someday show the one who called you nothing just how much  _ better  _ than them you are. And when your species falls, you will fall knowing what you have conquered.”

  
He turned away and took off, leaving the human girl alone with a lot to think about. 


End file.
